


Et Moi, Vous

by orphan_account



Category: Band of Brothers, HBO War
Genre: Baberoe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And if Gene focuses hard, and if he’s lucky enough, Babe’s words are plenty - but too often, they’re not. Mumbling quietly to himself, head on Babe’s pale chest, he soothes himself in the strong embrace of Babe’s auburn-freckled arms and tries to remember what it was like before he closed his eyes and woke up in Bastogne, bombs galore, blood a-plenty, the roar of ‘Medic!’ on Buck Compton’s lips.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Et Moi, Vous

Sometimes, the bangs in his dreams are so loud they wake him from a deep sleep with a scream so blood-curdling it makes him shiver and shake, his stomach knotting. Sometimes he’s alone in his suffering and other times he reaches out and twists his fingers around the bony wrists of his constant. He is lucky that those nights are cradled back to somewhere close to copable by the strong arms of his red-haired bedfellow - fellow in every sense. 

It’s on those nights that Babe whispers to him softly, trying to settle what is unsettleable. “Shh,” he slushes as he whispers, his South Philly tongue lapping at words of one syllable to calm his Cajun lover. “It’s a dream, Gene, just a dream.”

And if Gene focuses hard, and if he’s lucky enough, Babe’s words are plenty - but too often, they’re not. Mumbling quietly to himself, head on Babe’s pale chest, he soothes himself in the strong embrace of Babe’s auburn-freckled arms and tries to remember what it was like before he closed his eyes and woke up in Bastogne, bombs galore, blood a-plenty, the roar of ‘Medic!’ on Buck Compton’s lips.

Edward tries his hardest, even if it’s not enough, because he knows Gene likes to hear his voice. “I feel it too,” he promises sincerely, “I see the explosions too, sometimes, if I sleep too deeply. You gotta remember it’s not real anymore.” He tries to look into Gene’s eyes but they’re hidden, but when he hears the softly-whispered “I know.” He convinces himself that Gene is listening, even though he’s not. “I tried to tell my Ma about it but, Jesus Gene, she’ll never understand which is why we’re lucky we got each other, yeah?” Gene inhales and Babe hopes it’s his way of agreeing. “It’s just a dream though, Gene. Cause we’re here now and we got each other without all that…destruction.”

Holding him as close as the Bayou boy will allow, Babe wills Gene to be OK because he doesn’t think he could be if Gene wasn’t. He begs for the sun to rise early so the night will end and the dreams and memories with it - a bright sun had a brilliant talent of pretending that the darkness of fears and tremor-inducing dreams didn’t exist. And when Gene finally sets his dark eyes to Babe’s, Heffron is sure he’ll combust. “I know.” He says, accent strong. There’s a small smile on the Cajun man’s lips and Babe wants to kiss it into something bigger but can’t help looking at it. It’s rare, minute but visible, and Babe wills it to last. 

“…and I love you.” he whispers, Philly-born and unashamed.

“Je sais.” Gene bares his teeth as his smile grows to an impossible to define grin, something Babe has only ever seen once before. “Et moi, vous.”


End file.
